Railway rambles

Brookstray play area,with railway embankment in the background

The London to Birmingham railway cuts through our landscape: we're used to trains hurtling by at regular intervals, and the embankment acts as a lush green corridor for wildlife, as well as shielding large tracts of the main line from view.

 How different the area must have been in 1837, when navvies were encamped along the planned route, working all day and through the night by lantern light. The camps were rough wooden huts which housed whole families; while the men toiled with picks and shovels, shifting tons of earth every day, their womenfolk would look after the children and cook the stew. When the Brookstray play area was being constructed a few years ago, the ground was disturbed, revealing what could have been the rubbish dump for a railway camp, judging by the number of mutton bones and shards of pottery that were found.

The railway, which finally opened in 1838, cut the Manor Farm in half: the farmhouse itself was situated where the Willenhall Health Centre now stands. It was a very fine building, surrounded by extensive stables, piggeries and a dairy. A tunnel ran under the railway, giving access to the 'Thirteen Fields' on the Ernesford side of the railway, where the Manor Cottages also stood. These fields, liable to flooding, were used for grazing cattle.




The 'Thirteen Fields'

 An excellent example of the durability of Robert Stephenson's engineering is the seven-arched viaduct over the River Sowe. This can be accessed along the Sowe Valley Trail, and is one of the hidden delights of Willenhall. In the summer of 2010, the Willenhall Local History Group took 15 members of the Coventry Society on an evening walk through the area. Some of them had never ventured into this part of South-East Coventry before, and they were enchanted by the scene under the mysterious arches, comparing it to 'Dovedale'.




Brick railway viaduct with elaborate stone inlay